Stealing Time

THE SPORTING SCENE about baseball player Rickey Henderson. One summer night not long ago, Rickey Henderson, the greatest base stealer and lead-off hitter in baseball history, stood in a dugout, practicing the same pregame rituals that he has performed since he was a rookie outfielder with the Oakland A's, in 1979. As a 10-time All Star for the A's, the New York Yankees, and 7 other teams, he stole more than 1,400 bases-a record that is considered untouchable. The announcer called his name: “Now batting lead-off for the San Diego Surf Dawgs…RICKEY HENDERSON.” The man who once proclaimed “I am the greatest of all time!” was, at the age of 46, playing in the Golden Baseball League, an independent league, widely considered to be the bottom of the bottom. Other baseball greats have played past their prime. But Henderson's decision to go so far as to join the Surf Dawgs has been a source of astonishment. His last stint in the majors was in 2003, when he played part of the season for the L.A. Dodgers. Most fans reasonably assumed he would retire and wait for his induction into the Hall of Fame. Instead, he played the 2004 season with the Newark Bears, in the independent Atlanta League, before switching to the Golden Baseball League. Henderson seems shocked by his own predicament, by the riddle of age. He knew he had only a few months to prove to a scout that he was able to play in the majors. “Then I could go out the way I came in.” Base stealers are often considered their own breed: reckless, egocentric, even a touch mad. Henderson grew up with little outside the game. In 1976, the Oakland A's drafted him and assigned him to one of their minor-league teams. From the beginning, he was intense, moody, and flamboyant. His speed was unparalleled. In 1977, he stole 7 bases, tying a record for a single game. Two years later, the Oakland A's called him up to the majors. In 1980, he found an unlikely father figure in Billy Martin, the A's new manager. As the lead-off hitter, Henderson developed one of the most distinctive and infuriating batting stances ever seen. He is one of only 25 players in history with over 3,000 hits. His mere presence on the base paths was a force of psychic disruption. But there was also something out of control about Henderson. The very traits that won him praise-bravado, guile, defiance-also made him despised. His habit of base stealing when his team was already trouncing an opponent was widely seen as unsportsmanlike. He also held general managers hostage with his contractual demands. By the end of his career, he was recognized as one of the best players of all time, but, in the view of many players and sportswriters, he was also “greedy,” “egomaniacal,” “Tropical Storm Rickey,” etc. Writer accompanied him to the L.A. airport, where he was catching a flight to Yuma, Arizona, where, for a July game against the Scorpions, the Golden Baseball League was hosting Rickey Henderson Night. Henderson knew that his reputation had probably hurt his chances of being brought onto a team as an elder statesman and bench player. He caused a stir on the plane and was escorted off. Eventually, they arrived in Yuma, where Henderson signed autographs and posed for photographs with fans. Mentions some of Henderson's teammates, including Scott Goodman and Adam Johnson. Mentions the Surf Dawgs's manager, Terry Kennedy. Surprisingly, Henderson has gone out of his way to mentor other players. One afternoon before a home game, Kennedy asked Henderson if he would teach the other players the art of stealing. The writer observes Henderson coaching the other players in base stealing. Before Henderson, the great base stealers typically slid in feet first. But Henderson lowered his body gradually to the ground, like an airplane. In July, Rickey's batting average had plunged from .311 to .247-one of the lowest on the team. As the weeks wore on, it became clearer that the defiant mind-set that had made him a great base-stealer had, in many ways, trapped him in the Golden Baseball League.